


Interlude

by spacemonkey



Category: U2
Genre: Angst, M/M, Sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 12:29:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13031160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacemonkey/pseuds/spacemonkey
Summary: Edge reflects on life, Bono, and the gift of time.Set in early 2017, inspired by Bono's unknown brush with mortality.





	Interlude

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, I know I've been a terrible Bedge fan recently, and haven't managed to read, like, ANY of anyone's stuff, and I'm so sorry, but, hey, I've got two weeks off over Christmas so I have been given the gift of time and will get to it then!
> 
> Tonight, on the other hand, I do not have the gift of time. No, I'm terribly behind on uni stuff and should be studying, but my brain was like 'hey, you know what? Here's a fic idea. It's only a little one, it'll take you like thirty minutes, tops, no big deal....SO DO IT' and what do you know, it did only take me thirty minutes, but I STILL DON'T HAVE THAT SORT OF TIME, BRAIN, WHAT ABOUT MY 40 PAGES OF READINGS I HAVE TO DO? MY TWO LECTURES? WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS, BRAIN?
> 
> So anyway, here's some sappy-ass angst that is inspired by Bono's brush with mortality, even though I told myself I wasn't gonna write about that, because it's terrible and I'm a terrible person and shouldn't be inspired creatively to write about such pain. But, well, it's me and I'm terrible and this is what I do. Also got some references in to Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way, because I told myself that was a requirement if I were to write fic. There's also reference to a melody Edge wrote that doesn't exist, except for in my head, because yes. This note is far too long, I am a bit worked up, I'm sorry. Shhhhh, just shut up and let them read it. I love you all. I'M SORRY.

And there it was. Music to his ears. He could hear it now. He could feel it, in such a way that so many no doubt thought they could, and maybe they came close, on those days when they would stop in the middle of a crowded room, close their eyes and let it wash over them, until all that surrounded them just drifted away. But try as they might, they could never experience such a moment the way that Edge could.

It had something to do with love. With knowing a person, actually knowing them for who they were, away from the pedestal that so many might have placed Bono on before declaring him, high up close to the clouds, to be the real deal, and claiming love, and devotion, and the type of adoration that brought tears to their eyes when that voice rang through their headphones and cut deep. Let them believe. Let them experience such a feeling. It only seemed fair. Who was Edge to be so selfish and deny them all a part of it, when he himself had no claim to any of it?

He could _feel_ it.

The door was slightly ajar, and it seemed like a terrible thing to interfere. Opening it fully and stepping inside could ruin the moment, and closing it would cut him off cold turkey.

_I could have lost this._

There was just something special about listening to a person when they thought they were alone. The stops and starts, the interludes of self-admonishment and the quiet laughter that followed. The melody that filled the room, not yet fully formed but getting close now. Close enough to cut deep. And Edge could barely absorb the lyrics, because he knew what they were about, and it was too much too soon. No, he could only allow the melody, the voice, to draw him in, and pull him under, until he was drowning in it.

_I could have lost you._

He hadn’t. He hadn’t. It had just been an interlude in their life. Something to remember, certainly, whilst leaving it all behind. There Bono was, inside that room, singing like a man reborn. Full of joy, and heartbreak, and all the things that made him human.

Edge had comprised a melody the morning before that, to him, sounded like a heartbeat. He didn’t know what to do with it. He didn’t know if he should share it with anyone else. But it had stayed with him throughout the day, lingering in the background as he worked on other things, and while they walked together beneath the moonlight, both silent as they listened to the waves lapping gently nearby, Bono’s fingers like ice against Edge’s, the pulse in his thumb keeping a steady beat.

A reminder. There were so many reminders, but no matter how cold Bono’s skin had been the night before, the warmth in his smile had been enough to bring a little heat to their rendezvous on Killiney Bay. For a moment there beneath the moonlight Bono had looked thirty years younger, and they had been given the gift of time.

They couldn’t waste it. Not a single moment.

The melody had stopped. The silence that followed felt like an insult, but then the door opened fully and Edge found himself caught out. It wasn’t shame that he felt. No, it was nothing even remotely close to shame.

“You spyin’ on me, Edge?”

“Always.”

_We could have lost this._

They hadn’t. They hadn’t. And if immortality was destined to remain in the clouds, then all they could ask for was longevity, and _this_. All of this. It was coming, Edge knew. A smile. It was hidden, but they both knew that wouldn’t last. They knew. Of course they knew.

And there it was.

 


End file.
